Page 40 of The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

“So I scored some romantic points?”

She laughed. “You scored triple points with that romantic gesture. Even more than that even.”

“Then it was worth it to see how much it means to you.”

“It was andisperfect. But come in and see for yourself. I also heard you had a person delivering or was he serving penance for his deed he pulled on us?”

“A bit of both.” Cole stopped in his tracks just inside the foyer. “I have to hand it to him. He did a good job.”

“I am a very lucky girl.” Her voice was heavy with honesty.

“You are a girl who deserves this and more.” Cole lifted her chin with his finger beneath it. The kiss was brief but very sweet. “I’m hungry. The smell of food is better than the flower smell.”

Cassie laughed and hoped the color of a blush wasn’t too pronounced.

“Well, I hope you brought an appetite. I might be trying to impress you with my culinary skills.”

“You impress me with everything you do, Cassie Parker. More than you know.”

Chapter Seventeen

“That was themost incredible dinner I have had in a long time. Even better than one of Marcella’s and you know how she can cook.”

“I did notice you particularly loved the dessert. And there are a couple left I will send home with you for Emmie and you to enjoy tomorrow.” She began clearing the dishes from the porch table where they had eaten. He stood and fell into helping also.

“No, you are a guest. Guests aren’t put to work here.”

“Nonsense. I was brought up to know that if someone fed you a good meal then you could thank them by helping put it away…and not just via your stomach. Old habits are hard to break. I’ll set them on the cabinet and then dry or whatever. You know where they go.”

She knew that look and there was no room for discussion with him. So they worked as a team and the kitchen was cleaned and food put away shortly enough. She poured them both a glass of tea and nodded toward the front door. “There’s a big moon rising tonight. I have front row seating for it.”

He took the glass and allowed her to lead the way. She stopped once and Peaches was waiting in her chair. She joined them from a comfy pillow on the porch close to the swing they both shared. Cole stretched his long legs and gently moved the swing back and forth. His arm stretched along the back of the swing while he finished his tea. Cassie liked the warmth of sharing her small swing with him. It was a perfect evening.

“This is pretty perfect,” Cole spoke softly. “I understand why you love this place so much.”

“Well, I dreamed about it long before I saw it.”

“Explain that,” he requested.

“I spent a lot of time when we were in foster care, daydreaming. And I would have much the same dream over and over. I would live in a big old house…much like this one…and there would be flowers all around and sweet honeysuckle to smell in the evenings. People I loved would gather on a porch like this and talk or say nothing at all. I remember dreaming that feeling too…of peace and feeling happy…of feeling safe. But it would be above all else home. I dreamed of this place until the day I first saw it, after Tori had moved in and I visited her. I got out of the car and then just stood there. I had such an incredible feeling of stepping from a dream into a real place. And now that I live here, I know it was meant to be. I would come here and find home. I know it sounds silly and like a Hallmark card or something, but that is why I love it here.”

“It doesn’t sound silly at all. It sounds like you were lucky enough to find what most people dream of but some never find. I’m glad that Tori found Destiny’s River.”

“You are?”

He sat his glass down and took hers also and sat it aside. He turned to look at her with a solemn but very steady gaze. “I’m glad because you came here after she found it. And I’m grateful beyond measure that I literally ran into you that day in the general store. Our paths were meant to meet. I just didn’t know it at the time.”

She smiled. “Well, I can understand why you might not have realized it. I told you where you could put that dollar after you were so arrogant and then I gave you a pretty good punch. Yet here we are.”

“We covered a lot of ground in a short time, that’s for sure. But I remember something my uncle told me a while back…even before we met. He said one day you will meet someone that you have no idea existed before that moment but in an instant you will know that nothing mattered before then and nothing would matter to you as much after that moment. The hard part was realizing that moment when it came.”

“You uncle is a very wise man, and I adore him.”

“I may not get this right but I want to do my best because you deserve the best each and every day.” He cleared his throat and stood. But he didn’t stay that way long. He went down on one knee before her, her hands inside his.

“I recognized that person in you. Almost from the first, but I was stubborn. And we had some tough stuff we had to get through, but we came out on the other side. I thought you were gone and I never want to feel that way again. I know you love Destiny’s River. But that same river flows from here straight beside Red Cliffs and the house you also seemed to take a liking to. Emmie and you hit it off. You adore Uncle Joe and that feeling is the same from him to you. But the big question is how you feel about me. I think you like me. That is a good start. But I’m greedy. I want your heart, too. This is a long way around to say I love you, Cassie. Will you do me a very great honor and love me back? Enough to want to marry me as much as I want you to be my wife for the rest of our days?”

Cassie couldn’t speak. Her heart had pushed a boulder into her throat. She knew that moment would be the one she would remember each day of the rest of her life. She filed it away deep inside her heart. When she could speak, she hoped she made sense. There was much she wanted to say. But it seemed the only thing that came out was one word. “Yes.”

---